OMUTHIYA -The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry together with Meat Corporation (Meatco) is devising plans to extend the redline and rezone the Mangetti area in Oshikoto Region into a foot-and-mouth disease (FMD)-free zone.
This is intended to bring greater relief to farmers who for many years have been fighting to secure a profitable livestock market and who want the removal of the redline.
Thus, such a development will enable small-scale commercial farmers in the surroundings areas to access lucrative markets south of the veterinary cordon fence and internationally.
Currently Mangetti falls north of the veterinary cordon fence, which is regarded as an FMD-prone zone. There is an estimated high quality livestock population in Mangetti area in excess of 200 000.
This was raised during a meeting with local farmers held by Meatco Foundation in Omuthiya, where farmers were informed that another viable idea would be for them to practise commodity-based trading (CBT), other than depending solely on livestock as defined by fencing.
CBT is an alternative that can be used to ensure the production and processing of a particular commodity or product is managed, so that identified food safety and animal health hazards are reduced to appropriate risk levels.
According to a study conducted in Botswana titled ‘Exploring Market Opportunities for Commodity-Based Trade (CBT) of Beef from Ngamiland, Botswana: Towards Harmonization of the Livestock and Wildlife Sectors’, in Southern Africa 85 percent of the cattle population is raised in areas where FMD is present. It says this situation restricts market access and constrains investment for livestock farmers who share the land with wildlife.
Botswana is one of the few Southern African countries that is practising CBT and has established export markets from Ngamiland (FMD-prone area in Botswana) to Kuwait, Vietnam, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and
Mozambique.